Convents: Difference between revisions

Convents
	; Convents of Venice
Total Number of Convents	59
Total Number in Cannaregio	9
Total Number in Castello	19
Total Number in Dorsoduro	13
Total Number in San Marco	6
Total Number in San Polo	1
Total Number in Santa Croce	3
Active Convents	8
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Revision as of 14:29, 6 November 2013

This page is an overview of all the convents in Venice. For a typical convent, see Convent.

Convents, or "conventi" in Italian, often accompanied the churches located on the islands of the lagoon. There are 59 convents on located in Venice, excluding the islands of the lagoon. Only eight of these convents still actively house monastic orders. Today, many of these convents have been secularized and reused as less individuals are joining monastic orders. Among the reused convents include both the Convent of the Frari and the Convent of Saint Giovanni e Paolo (both pictured below), which once housed the largest monastic orders in Venice, the Franciscans and Dominicans.

History

As the city of Venice developed and grew, the size of the convents also increased. As staples in the community, affluent families were enthused to send their children to live in monastic orders. A map of the 59 known convents in Venice can be seen to the right. However, civilians began to abuse the religious system, primarily sending daughters to join nunneries to avoid paying a dowry to a prospective husband and his family. Although this provided an influx of nuns, this population did not consist of individuals who would regularly be admitted to the nunneries, which reflected poorly on the churches and monastic orders. In response to this misuse of convents, in 1810, Napoleon demolished several convents in Venice and reused many others as army barracks and prisons. Although drastic, the invasion of convents helped return respect and power to the convents, replacing irresponsible unfit nuns, with devout ones.

Adaptive Reuse

Due to the population shift and decline in religious importance within Venice many convents have been renovated and reused for other purposes to accommodate the needs of the city. As the city adapts to host more tourists, most of the convents in Venice have been renovated to be used as buildings such as hotels, museums and government buildings, and schools among many other uses. Only 14% of convents in Venice are actually still used convents, which can be seen in the chart to the right. The simple layout of convents makes reuse and renovation fairly easy. Convents generally have fairly large and open rooms on the first floor with much smaller and larger quantity of rooms on the upper levels. This arrangement is ideal for modern uses of buildings such as hospitals and prisons. The structural conversion of these rooms is fairly simple, however it is more difficult to update utilities such as electricity and plumbing while still maintaining the historic and cultural integrity of the building. A renovated convent, the Convent of Saint Nicholas Tolentino can be seen to the leftt. The convent is know part of one of the universities in Venice.

Even the largest convents in the city have been renovated for other purposes. The Convent of Saint Giovanni e Paolo, which once housed the Dominican order, is now used as the main hospital in Venice. Furthermore, the Convent of the Frari is now used the state archive, replacing the former Franciscan order. Pictures of the both can be seen to the left.

Map

This map shows the location of all the convents of Venice.

@@ Line 47: / Line 47: @@
 ==Adaptive Reuse==
-[[File:reuse_chart.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Adaptive Reuse of Convents]]]]
+[[File:reuse_chart.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Adaptive Reuse of Convents]]]]
-[[File:TOLE.JPG|thumb|left|The [[Convent of Saint Nicholas Tolentino]]]]
+[[File:TOLE.JPG|thumb|right|The [[Convent of Saint Nicholas Tolentino]]]]
-[[File:GIOV.JPG|thumb|right|The [[Convent of Saint Giovanni e Paolo]]]]
+[[File:GIOV.JPG|thumb|left|The [[Convent of Saint Giovanni e Paolo]]]]
-[[File:FRAR.JPG|thumb|right|The [[Convent of the Frari]]]]
+[[File:FRAR.JPG|thumb|left|The [[Convent of the Frari]]]]
-Due to the population shift and decline in religious importance within Venice many convents have been renovated and reused for other purposes to accommodate the needs of the city.  As the city adapts to host more tourists, most of the convents in Venice have been renovated to be used as buildings such as hotels, museums and government buildings, and schools among many other uses.  Only 14% of convents in Venice are actually still used convents, which can be seen in the chart to the left.  The simple layout of convents makes reuse and renovation fairly easy.  Convents generally have fairly large and open rooms on the first floor with much smaller and larger quantity of rooms on the upper levels.  This arrangement is ideal for modern uses of buildings such as hospitals and prisons.  The structural conversion of these rooms is fairly simple, however it is more difficult to update utilities such as electricity and plumbing while still maintaining the historic and cultural integrity of the building.  A renovated convent, the [[Convent of Saint Nicholas Tolentino]] can be seen to the right.  The convent is know part of one of the universities in Venice.
+Due to the population shift and decline in religious importance within Venice many convents have been renovated and reused for other purposes to accommodate the needs of the city.  As the city adapts to host more tourists, most of the convents in Venice have been renovated to be used as buildings such as hotels, museums and government buildings, and schools among many other uses.  Only 14% of convents in Venice are actually still used convents, which can be seen in the chart to the right.  The simple layout of convents makes reuse and renovation fairly easy.  Convents generally have fairly large and open rooms on the first floor with much smaller and larger quantity of rooms on the upper levels.  This arrangement is ideal for modern uses of buildings such as hospitals and prisons.  The structural conversion of these rooms is fairly simple, however it is more difficult to update utilities such as electricity and plumbing while still maintaining the historic and cultural integrity of the building.  A renovated convent, the [[Convent of Saint Nicholas Tolentino]] can be seen to the leftt.  The convent is know part of one of the universities in Venice.
-[[File:GIOV.JPG|thumb|right|The [[Convent of Saint Giovanni e Paolo]]]]
-[[File:FRAR.JPG|thumb|right|The [[Convent of the Frari]]]]
 Even the largest convents in the city have been renovated for other purposes.  The [[Convent of Saint Giovanni e Paolo]], which once housed the Dominican order, is now used as the main hospital in Venice.  Furthermore, the [[Convent of the Frari]] is now used the state archive, replacing the former Franciscan order.  Pictures of the both can be seen to the left.

Convents of Venice
Total Number of Convents	59
Total Number in Cannaregio	9
Total Number in Castello	19
Total Number in Dorsoduro	13
Total Number in San Marco	6
Total Number in San Polo	1
Total Number in Santa Croce	3
Active Convents	8
v • d • e

Convents: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:29, 6 November 2013

History

Adaptive Reuse

Map

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